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In the season 5 finale of Doctor Who, in the wedding ceremony of Amy, River Song showed up outside the door. Moments later, we discovered that she gifted Amy her blank diary which was supposed to contain information about The Doctor. It means River Song remembered The Doctor.

Memories of The Doctor was able to bring The Doctor back to existence in the rebooted Spacetime. Why couldn't River Song's memories work?

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    I don't remember the details (and am away from my copies of the episodes), but I seem to remember it was that Amy had a special relationship with the crack due to basically growing up right next to it, and thus had some unusual degree of impact. Similar to the way that River's conception on the Tardis changed her, Amy's growing up next to the crack seems to have affected her impact on time.
    – K-H-W
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 1:19

2 Answers 2

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It had to be Amy because, as a result of her growing up next to the crack in her wall, her mind became capable of resisting the cracks' effects with enough focus.

From "The Big Bang":

DOCTOR: Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall. The universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got a bit more than they bargained for, like you. Not just your face, but your heart and your soul.

Also:

DOCTOR: There's going to be a very big bang. Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there.

AMY: How can I remember them if they never existed?

DOCTOR: Because you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back. You can bring them back, too. You just remember and they'll be there.

But perhaps more important is the fact that the Doctor specifically planted a trigger for Amy's remembrance of him in the form of the "bedtime" story that he told her before submitting himself to the crack in her wall. Knowing that she would one day get married to Rory, he exploited the wedding-day phrase, "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," as that also coincides with what Amy knows about his TARDIS. That trigger, combined with her cracks-resistant memory, allowed her to remember the Doctor back into existence just as she did her parents.

River did not grow up next to a crack, nor was she implanted with any mnemonic trigger, and so her mind alone would not have been sufficient.

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It was because Amy was so close to the first crack that she had the ability to bring everyone back that she remembered including her parents.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Time_field

Using the ability given to her by the crack in her room, Amy's remembrance of her parents and Rory undid their erasure in the rebooted universe. The Doctor, however, remained erased until Amy remembered him and their adventures and brought him and the TARDIS back. Despite everything being repaired, the Doctor remained clueless as to what was responsible for the destruction of the TARDIS in the first place. (TV: The Big Bang)

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  • Can you back this up with transcripts? Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 18:06

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